iad.rest

=Defend Your Product= by Ellie Rest

Purpose
To be able to defend a product based on the information outlined in an article, study or product material and respond to counter-arguments and objections quickly and logically. The motivational purpose is to compete against other teams and competing products.

Time Required
Prior to the activity, participants will be required to read and study two competing product materials. The activity will take approximately 80 minutes.

Number of Participants
Ideally there will be 12 participants with 4 teams of 3 participants each. The activity could have a minimum of 6 or a maximum of 30 participants.

Supplies Needed
A different product material is needed for each team. The product material can be represented by any document such as a package insert, clinical study, product information sheet, advertisement or journal article. Each participant will need a copy of the two product materials that will be competing in their debate. The product teams will not be revealed until class, so participants will not know which of the two products they will be defending or opposing. For the activity, each team will need a flip chart and a set of markers. The facilitator will need a timer, a flip chart and markers.

Preparation
The facilitator should create two equal groups for Debate 1 and 2. Each person in the group will get the two product materials competing in their debate prior to the activity so they can study and read the materials and highlight the main points and arguments. The facilitator should divide each group into two product teams (4 teams total) to be revealed at the start of the activity.

Introduction
Prior to class, you studied two competing product materials. I will now assign you to your product team so you will know which product you will be defending and which product you will be opposing. You will have 15 minutes with your group to prepare your debate and decide who will present which portion of the debate. You may flipchart the main points, including what you think consumers need to know about your product. Keep in mind, you may want to think about your opponent's product when you are preparing your argument so you can counter their points and present a strong argument for your product.

Once you have prepared your arguments, the debates begin! Two teams will debate, while the remaining two teams sit in the audience acting as consumers. No one may interrupt the team that is presenting until the Q&A portion of the debate at which point consumers will be allowed to ask questions to both teams about their products. The first team will have 5 minutes to present their main points, then the second Team will present for 5 minutes. The first Team will have 2 minutes to overcome objections or present a closing, and then the second Team will have 2 minutes to do the same. The debate will end with 5 minutes of questions and answers from consumers. The consumers will then vote for the more convincing product. The debate between the first two teams will officially end. We will debrief after each debate to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the debate and the product teams. Then, we will move to the next debate which will follow the same process. Are there any questions?

Process

 * 1) Facilitator will assign participants to one of four product teams.
 * 2) All teams will have 15 minutes with their groups to prepare their debate and outline the main points about their product. They may flipchart the key points and plan who will present which portion of the debate.
 * 3) Each debate will proceed as follows:
 * 4) First Team presents their argument for 5 minutes.
 * 5) Second Team presents their argument for 5 minutes.
 * 6) First Team has 2 minutes to overcome objections, present final arguments, close, etc.
 * 7) Second Team has 2 minutes to overcome objections, present final arguments, close, etc.
 * 8) Q&A: Consumers (other two teams) from the audience have 5 minutes to ask questions to either or both teams about their products.
 * 9) Consumers vote for the more convincing product argument. The majority vote wins.
 * 10) The debate ends.
 * 11) All participants debrief for 5 minutes discussing what went well in the debate, why consumers voted the way they did and what could be improved. The facilitator flipcharts the discussion points.
 * 12) The next debate begins following the same process.
 * 13) Once the two debates are done, there will be a 10 to 15 minute final discussion about what was learned in the activity and what makes a strong argument versus a weak argument. Participants will discuss how preparation helped or hindered their argument and techniques they used to overcome objections and depend their product.

Debrief

 * What did you learn from this activity?
 * What makes a strong argument?
 * What makes a weak argument?
 * What did you need to know and prepare in order to defend your product?
 * What did you need to know about your opponent's product to counter-argue for your product?
 * How did the Q&A portion of the debate influence your argument?
 * What unexpected obstacles did you encounter?
 * Did you learn any valuable techniques that helped you defend your product?
 * Was it valuable to have studied your opponent's product prior to the debate?
 * What was the most difficult part to this activity?
 * Could you have been better prepared for the debate? If yes, how?
 * Did you gain any valuable skills that can be applied to your job or the real-world?

Credits
I came up with this idea after reading Thiagi's games. Many of his games focused on summarizing articles and main points which reminded me of a sales training activity that I developed for my company. Teams acted as lawyers defending the company's product with the audience as the jury. The facilitator acted as the judge over the trial correcting misinformation and stepping in when necessary. My activity's concept is similar, but I altered the structure slightly and modified the activity so participants were debating different competing products and the participants did not know what product they would be defending until the day of the activity. I added the Q&A portion from consumers so participants in the audience were engaged in the learning activity and participated in determining the outcome of the debate. I also added the debrief section after each debate to enforce the learning objectives.